Ephedra: Setting the Double Standard in Minor Baseball on MLN Sports Zone

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Major League Baseball Reacts In A Minor Way

A week after Steve Bechler’s death, the press was calling on the Commissioner’s office and the player’s union to act.

Major League Baseball, took its first step toward banning ephedra by prohibiting players with minor league contracts from taking the substance on Feb. 24.

MLB’s contract with the major league players requires the union’s agreement to add a substance to the major league banned list. Minor league players are not represented by the collective bargaining agreement, allowing the Commissioner’s office to act unilaterally.

Players Have Nothing To 'Fehr' From Drug Testing, For Now.

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) continues to be the roadblock to full implementation of a ban. Major league baseball cannot act on adding ephedra to the banned substances list without the blessing of Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the MLBPA.

Fehr came out with a "wait and see" statement to the media when the Beckler tragedy hit the airwaves.

Greg Bouris, Director of Communications for the MLBPA told MLN today that there would be no formal decisions and no further releases on the subject until the final results of the toxicology testing in the Bechler case, Fehr's original position.

Then the MLBPA released an advisory to their players an hour later, warning them to think carefully about using products that contain ephedra. It seems to be more the of the straight-shooting that we come to expect from the MLBPA.

In some ways you can't blame Fehr. He sits on a rough fence. Protecting their members from themselves in regards to the use of potentially hazardous supplements might be perceceived as a mission of the association.

In truth, sources tell MLN, many players in the association are reluctant to add ephedra to the banned substances list because it appears in so many over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements which they find useful as part of their training regimine, or just to fight off a cold. A further concern is that opening the door to herbal supplement testing may cause the drug testing system used by the MLB to undergo some much-needed tightening.

Currently you would have to worry more about being diagnosed with certified brain death for being caught with the drug testing that major league baseball uses than being caught with drugs or illegal substances. In the MLB, tests are announced and scheduled. Stay clean that week, and you're home free.

A move to random testing, as is done in the minors, would expose players who use banned substances to sanction. Such sanctions might impact the image of the players and the game at a time when baseball continues to struggle to rebuild the audience that it lost from the players strike many years ago.

Whatever the final fate of ephedra with Major League Baseball, the answers will have more to do with player politics than with health, safety, or medical efficacy.

Minor Presidents Applaud Ban

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NABPL), the umbrella organization of affiliated baseball, surprisingly, had no comment on the ban passed down by the MLB. They chose instead to defer to the comments of the Commissioner’s Office. The presidents of the affiliated leagues, however, largely welcomed the ban.

“We’re pleased that with the ephedra [issue] being so highly publicized and perceived as a area of real concern,” Branch B. Rickey III, President of the triple-A Pacific Coast League told MLN.

“…[A]ction is being taken, which causes minor league baseball to be part of the solution, “ Rickey said.

Many league presidents admitted not really knowing the facts regarding ephedra. They acknowledged that most of what they do know comes as a result of media reports that followed Bechler’s death.

“I am not familiar enough with the medical implications of that drug to comment on whether it should or should not be (banned),” Eastern League (AA) President Joe McEachern told MLN. “I’ve read what everyone else has [said] in the media, and based on that, I’m of the view that we should do something. I think the intent and purpose of banning those types of substances is something we whole-heartedly endorse. I think it’s a good thing.”

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